Measure sets standard for UK to follow
The Spanish government has issued an emergency decree to take control of all the country’s healthcare facilities – including private hospitals and pharmaceutical manufacture – in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
When the UK is funnelling public money into shareholder pockets to rent private beds for the treatment of coronavirus sufferers, Spain has treated the situation as the emergency that it is, taking all health provision into direct control.
The Spanish government, under its left-wing prime minister, has shown what can be done when those in charge are genuinely determined to do what is needed for the good of the people instead of padding the profits of privateer donors.
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As an older person who has just completed chemotherapy I sincerely hope for my sake,and for the sake of thousands of others ,that the government has its strategy correct,although I won’t hold my breath..( that could be Hancocks next advice to older people,hold your breath for four months to reduce risk). What I find unforgivable is this. In the late 1990s I represented our hospital trust on a committee to plan for an outbreak of avian flu. We met the NHS director for the east of Enland who told us it was not a matter of if a pandemic happened but when. Locally we had to prepare plans to make sure wards were stocked with protective equipment,arrangements were in place for where people with mental illness wit flu would be treated,where the bodies could be stored etc. This was put into a plan Called something like MANJAX. At a national level the responsibility was to ensure appropriate training was given and equipment would be available,this would include adequate respiratory kit.Yesterday,weeks since the outbreak commenced,the government announced it was to ask manufacturers if they could look at ways of making ventilators.It is inconceivable that the need for this kit had not been identified years ago and contingency plans were not in place. Sadly it seems there will be a lot more victims of austerity and governmental inefficiency in the coming weeks and once again the poor and vulnerable will suffer most.
Jim – First of all, good wishes to you and others, like Jeffrey, who are, or have recently, been undergoing treatment. I’m currently in quite long-term remission, but I fully understand the anxieties.
Your remark about planning in the late 1990s brought back to mind the abolition of the Community Health Councils in 2001 by a *Labour* government. It was opposed by the Select Committee (certainly its Chair) as I recall – but went ahead.
I was serving on ours at the time, and I vividly recall the loss as part of the growing divorce between the grass roots and the government.
Like Jim I’m going through treatment but sadly our NHS is not whot it was has of the privatisation of it making it a ghost of whot it was meant to be ready to show us that privatisation is the way to go our nurses doctors have worked tirelessly to keep it afloat but sadly we the people’s have allowed them to we didn’t voice or show our dislike of them but sadly we going to pay a hefty price for their corrupt ways
get brexit done , just a reminder , people voted for Johnson to do this ,knowing full well what Johnson would continue to do to our NHS , Corbyn warned them again and again.
Stupid is what stupid does
Let’s not forget Rob who in the Labour Party contributed greatly to allowing these imbecilic cretins in power, let’s not forget who said “ I would rather Labour lose the GE than win on a platform of socialism “, let’s not forget who refused to accept both the overwhelming democratic vote for a democratic socialist Labour Party and worked, in the words of the prince of darkness “ to work every day to thwart Labour “, and connived with the enemies of the Labour Party to prevent it winning the GE plus refusing to accept the democratic vote to leave the EU.
I haven’t forgotten which is why I’ll not be voting for Starmer or any of the other coup plotters , it a pity others cannot or will not see Starmer for what he is .
Mind you the choice is shite , and if there was a way to get Corbyn to stay on I’d pay for it in gold !
A temporary respite for the vulnerable.
The DWP has announced that face-to-face assessments for sickness and disability welfare payments will be suspended for three months to protect vulnerable claimants from coronavirus. This will come into effect from tomorrow (Tuesday)
They’ll be hoping the bug kills most of them off, so they don’t have to lie on the assessments to stop the poor sods’ payments.
No need for the DWP to claim: ‘No causal effect between stopping the payments and the claimants’ resulting death’ , then.
Those that DO survive will probably be asked why they’re not dead; then failed for the crime of either not getting the illness, or survivng it.
They’ve done it before to people with suicidal tendencies.
https://metro.co.uk/2017/04/14/woman-with-mental-health-issues-asked-why-havent-you-killed-yourself-in-benefits-assessment-6574438/
I’ve just been to my local home bargains store.
Out of 26 people I counted in the queues at the tills, only three (including myself) DIDN’T have bogrolls to checkout. Of those that did, I counted four with only one multipack before I had to go through the till meself. The rest had several multipacks.
So I made sure I was heard when I asked the lad on the checkout if there’s any evidence this virus gives you the shits…The looks I got?! I couldn’t give a f**k though. There’s old people can’t get to the shops and when they DO get there the shelves are empty.
Also, there was a dearth of ‘instant’ foodstuffs (The stuff you add hot water to, like cup soups, noodles etc).
Meanwhile in Morrison’s next door there was an overabundance of fresh veg that people were ignoring, and the tinned shelves were near-as-dammit empty, with the instant stuff more or less gone, too.
That just cannot carry on. About time the shops started limiting certain items because people are just taking no notice.
What’s up with society these days?
Toffee society has been infected with the BBC virus and it has managed to kill people who they convinced to vote Tory.Now I know that not many on here would vote Tory whatever reason given,but we are not representative of the public who have been taught by the BBC to despise and ridicule those of us that know how politics work.Yes the BBC have a lot to answer for including still pedalling the lies of the Tory non government.
And here are the football results
Covid 19 – Everton 0
Toffee – I’m really pleased to read an insightful post from you.
The ‘bog roll syndrome’, I gather, stems from a fiction that China manufactures the world’s bog rolls, and that it might therefore run out. I had a laugh about the idiocy of it with the usual guy on the checkout last week – who had been observing the numpties filing past.
The fact that, as of last week, 47% of people hadn’t changed hand-washing routines gives some indication of the general levels of awareness and applied intelligence.
… and I’ve also just had evidence of individuals resisting basic obvious social distancing (i.e cancelling) re. a group I’m involved with.
That’s why I get irritated with a main focus on what the Spivs are or aren’t doing.
On the up-side – if buying pointlessly keeps people out of circulation for a while – that’s something. The article below is an examination of the effectiveness of social distancing as a strategy :
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/world/corona-simulator/
I’m just reluctantly off to do the unavoidable shopping – so will see what the parallel situation is.
As long as the beer is still on the shelves …
RH I am really pleased that you and toffee have come together on “Bog roll” IT just goes to show t there is more that unites us than divides us. Even if its Bog roll.!Happy ☺ shopping you two…!
Being close to Ground Zero, HKSAR, and for those posters worrying about health issues associated with Covid-19, there is much you can do to prevent infection, the basic being self isolation, wearing of quality surgical face mask if utilising any health facility, the washing of hands in a Bleach solution and then use plenty of soap and water, cleaning surfaces regularly touched with a Bleach solution and, don’t touch your face, unless hands sterilised. As far as medical intervention is concerned, several drug cocktails available, not all of which are expensive – one of which is Zinc and use of an old Malaria medication.
However, for those who really, really need decent info, please watch MedCram on YouTube, which even Korean medical practitioners have used to get a handle on the virus and its impact on the body.
The good news is, of all those infected, only 15% have an uncomfortable time, and of this group a third will require medical attention, particularly if in a high risk category, which I too am in – try reading South China Morning Post & Singapore Straits Times, which, unlike our MSM have been offering great reportage.
“there is much you can do to prevent infection”
You’re right, Christopher – but regular use of simple soap and water is the most potent.Surface transmission is by far the most important.
Face masks are largely irrelevant except for an infected person limiting transmission.
Limiting social contact on a voluntary basis is essential. And you’re right about putting the dangers into perspective.
“When the UK is funnelling public money into shareholder pockets to rent private beds for the treatment of coronavirus sufferers, Spain has treated the situation as the emergency that it is, taking all health provision into direct control.”
During the Falklands War, Margaret Thatcher’s government nationalised the QE2 for the duration of the conflict.
It just goes to show what a Conservative government can do when it actually wants to.
Tony….Not this conservative government or any other when it comes to the Health and welfare of its subjects!And as far as that evil witch Thatcher,she would have raised the Titanic to get her bloodthirsty hands on the Argentinians throats.I find it upsetting to even mention that witch in front of innocent posters
ahhh fond memories , that pint I drank on the day she died in celebration never tasted sooooo good .Long may she burn in hell ,, soon to be joined by Johnson and Co hopefully .
Just remember that Thatcher would have been nothing without public support. Just like Johnson.
I’ve just seen the Thatcher mentality operating in the stripped shelves of the supermarket.
She’s alive and well.
Who was her greatest creation
Up here Blair and Brown were seen as her bastard offspring
As to private health facilities – they should be requisitioned at actual cost. Full stop.
I’d just say requisitioned full stop , this will become a National emergency in line with a war time footing .
Just love to see Bransons face if it ever happened, dare he ever show it in the UK again , 55 mil or was it £85 mil he screwed our NHS for ?
Someone has to pay for staff and maintenance, rob.